Job 15:17–35

¹⁷“I will show you; hear me,

and what I have seen I will declare

¹⁸(what wise men have told,

without hiding it ^mfrom their fathers,

¹⁹to whom alone the land was given,

and no ⁿstranger passed among them).

²⁰The wicked man writhes in pain all his days,

through all the ^oyears that are laid up for ^pthe ruthless.

^21qDreadful sounds are in his ears;

in ^rprosperity the destroyer will come upon him.

²²He does not believe that he will return out of darkness,

and he is marked for the sword.

²³He ^swanders abroad for bread, saying, ‘Where is it?’

He knows that a day of darkness is ready at his hand;

²⁴distress and anguish terrify him;

they ^tprevail against him, like a king ready for battle.

²⁵Because he has stretched out his hand against God

and defies the Almighty,

^26urunning ^vstubbornly against him

with a thickly bossed shield;

²⁷because he has ^wcovered his face with his fat

and gathered fat upon his waist

²⁸and has lived in desolate cities,

in houses that none should inhabit,

which were ready to become heaps of ruins;

²⁹he will not be rich, and his wealth will not endure,

nor will his possessions spread over the earth;³

³⁰he will not depart from darkness;

the flame will dry up his shoots,

and by ^xthe breath of his mouth he will depart.

³¹Let him not ^ytrust in emptiness, deceiving himself,

for emptiness will be his payment.

³²It will be paid in full ^zbefore his time,

and his branch will not be green.

³³He will shake off his unripe grape like the vine,

and cast off his blossom like the olive tree.

³⁴For ^athe company of the godless is barren,

and ^bfire consumes the tents of bribery.

³⁵They ^cconceive trouble and give birth to evil,

and their ^dwomb prepares deceit.”